Heddle



May 8, 1951 J. J. KAUFMANN 2,552,487

HEDDLE Filed NOV. 16, 1946 A rra/@mcy Patented May 8, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE to Steel Heddle Manufacturing Company,

Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 16, 1946, Serial No. 710,264

1 Claim. (Cl. 139-96) 1 This invention relates to heddles used in looms for the purpose of separating the warp ends into sheds for the passage of the shuttle therethrough to eifect the weaving operation.

This invention further relates to heddles of the type which are made from a thin flat strip of metal or other suitable material, suitably punched, and formed to the desired shape.

Heretofore, heddles of the thin flat metal type were mostly made by one of two methods, in one of which a relatively narrow strip was slotted at the place where the warp eye was to be formed, as well as at the places where the mortises for mounting the heddle on its supporting rods were to be formed. The slotted portions were then spread or extended, usually by swaging at the ends of the slots, to provide the warp eye and the mortises of the required sizes.

In the other method of making the heddles, a wider strip was employed, preferably of the maximum width required in the finished heddle, and

the warp eye and the mortises of the required size ulation in the looms, particularly in the modern looms which are operated at high speeds. For the purpose of lightening such heddles, it was custernary to reduce the width of the strip, between the warp eyes and the mortises, by shearing the same the required amount on each side. This reduction in the width of each heddle intermediate the warp eye and the mortises was also rendered necessary, in those instances when the heddles were to be used in installations in which automatic drawing-in machines were used for entering the warp in the harness, to permit the necessary manipulation or twisting of the central portion of each heddle so that the needle of the drawing-in machine may pass freely through the Warp eye.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel form of heddle made from a thin iiat strip of metal, or other suitable material, which is initially of the maximum width of the heddle throughout the length thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heddle of the character aforesaid, in which the weight of the heddle is reduced in a novel manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heddle of the character aforesaid, in which the required iinishing, for the removal of the burrs left by the shearing operation, may be more readily and eiciently done in the heddle making machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heddle of the character aforesaid, in which the shoulders heretofore located adjacent the warp eye will be eliminated to the end that there will be greater ease of the shedding and breakage of the warp will be greatly minimized.

The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understoodfrom the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, in which: Y

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a heddle embodying the main features of the present invention, the same being shown in connection with the supporting bars which are shown in section at the top and bottom;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a group of the heddles shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a modified form of heddle embodying the invention.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawing herein are illustrative merely, and that various changes and modifications may be made in the structure disclosed; without departing from the spirit of the invention. Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and` 2 of the drawing, each of the heddles there shown1 is made from a thin at strip I I) of metal or wire, or other suitable material, the stock preferably being of the full width of the finished heddle. Preferably, the finished heddle is not expanded or spread in width at any place from end to end thereof, as is customarily done in the manufacture of steel heddles of the kind most commonly used at this time.

The strip Ill is preferably punched to provide the usual central warp eye I I, the shank portions I2 of which may be bent or formed out of the main plane of the strip, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, lalthough this is not absolutely essential.

The central portion of the heddle may also be provided With the usual keyhole slot I3 for engagement by the selector mechanism of the warp drawing-in machine, as it is believed that heddles made in accordance with the present invention will find their greatest usefulness in installations in which the entering of the warp is accomplished by automatic drawing-in machines.

The strip IIJ is also provided at each end with a mortise or slot I4 for mounting the finished heddle on the supporting bars or rods I5 and, when the heddles are to be used in installations in which Warp drawing-in machines are employed for entering the warp, one of the side Shanks I6 at each of the mortises will be cut awai7 at the side, as at I'I, so as to permit the heddles to pass freely from end to end on the heddle supporting rods I5, when said rods are supported in the heddle frame in a manner such, for example, as is shown in my previous Letters Patent No. 2,- 047,511 and No. 2,386,690, which will permit such freedom of movement of the heddles in their frames.

The strip I0 from which the heddle is made is also provided with slots 20, each of said slots extending from the central portion of the heddle Where the warp eye II is located to a point adjacent the mortise I4 for mounting the same on the top and bottom rods, as the case may be. The slots 20 are `of, a sulicient width to remove a substantial portion of the metal of the strip, thereby materially reducing the weight of the heddle,' but the portions 2I on each side of each of said slots will be of sufficient width to take care of the strains to which the heddle will be subjected in use, particularly when the shedding takes place.

It will be noted that the side portions 2I on each side of each of the slots 20will not interfere with the necessary manipulation of the heddle, and the required twisting of the central portion thereof by the mechanism of the automatic drawing-in machine when the warp is inserted through the eye of the needle by such means.

The heddle shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 1. The slots 20 disposed in the strip I0, between the Warp eye and the mortise at each end, do not extend uninterruptedly from end to end, but a bridge piece 22 is provided connecting the side portions 2| intermediate their ends, which will serve to prevent the side portions ZI from being bent out of place and from becoming tangled when the heddles are used in close installations for weaving fabrics of high count.

It will be seen that heddles of the character herein described may be readily and inexpensively made. The same will be as light or lighter than the heddles heretofore made from the full width strips and in which the weight Was reduced by shearing out portions on each side thereof.

Also, heddles made in accordance with this invention can be finished more readily and much better than those heretofore used. In the making of heddles in accordance with this invention, the burrs which occur along the inner edges where the slots 20 are punched may be readily removed in the heddle making machines without requiring expensive hand operations, as was necessary in connection with the manufacture of the heddles of the type in which the reduction oi" weight was obtained Kby shearing the metal away on each side of the strip.

Furthermore, the tendency to break the warp in the shedding operation will be greatly minimized, as the shoulders adjacent the warp eyes will be eliminated and the sheds may be formed smoothly and without undue resistance caused by such shoulders as the warp threads pass the Same.

I claim:

In loom harness in which a plurality of heddles are arranged side by side on supporting rods, the heddles for said harness each comprising a stripy of material of substantially uniform width from end to end, a central warp eye in said strip, and mortises at each end thereof for mounting the heddle on the supporting rods in the harness frame, the strip having slots extending from the central portion in which the warp eye is located to points adjacent the end mortises, and bridging members extending from the side portions of the strip across the slots at points intermediate the ends thereof.

JOHN JACOB KAUFMANN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENT Number Name Date 1,802,907 Costello Apr. 28, 1931 2,047,511 Kaufmann 2--- July 14, 1936 2,382,795 Kaufmann Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 20,081 Great Britain of 1907 

